Chris Evans has revealed that he took on a "brutal" workout regime to prepare for his latest part as Captain America.

Evans takes on the lead role as the Marvel Comics superhero in director Joe Johnston's upcoming adaptation Captain America: The First Avenger. The 30-year-old actor has shared the secrets of how he overhauled his body with the next issue of Men's Health.

"It was gruelling," Evans said of his workouts. "It was brutal and I'd find any excuse possible not to go. But I had to do it. The gym wasn't anything too special.

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"We would take two muscle groups, whether it was chest and back or biceps and triceps and we would just destroy those muscles, literally, for about two hours. Then we'd cool down with core and abs. I had no idea there were so many ways you could burn yourself out."

Evans - who previously played Johnny Storm in the two Fantastic Four movies - spent three months working with trainer Simon Waterson, who helped Daniel Craig get in shape for his James Bond debut in Casino Royale.

"I don't think my body is supposed to be as big as it got for Captain America," he admitted. "There was a strain on some joints. After a month and a half of training I found my right shoulder would click and my left pec would hurt.

"It was an ever-evolving workout, in which we always found ways to work around the parts of me that were sore. There are certain things that hurt more than others. But that seems to be pretty universal. Every guy I know has some sort of freak injury in their body."